Rewrite of Evangelion
by LegendaryS
Summary: A recreation of the Evangelion story, mixing aspects of the TV Show, the manga, and the new theatrical series.
1. The First Defense Line

"They called us the Lost Generation. They said the world had ended only a few years before we were born. They even wondered if we would ever have anything to live for. These past few months I've been wondering if they were wrong about that.

"Then again… I don't think I do. Not anymore.

"Not anymore."

---

In the year two thousand and fifteen, everything was about to change. Something immense and powerful awoke for the first time, deep beneath the red seas of Earth, amidst the sunken cities. When it rushed to the surface, causing immense tidal waves to spread out in every direction, and saw the sun for the first time, the world was unaware.

Unaware of a forty meter high humanoid creature, something that seemed to be emaciated to the point of starvation. Its ribs protruded from its skin, showing the white to mark against its black, leathery skin. Gills were placed along its sides, breathing in and out periodically as it swam along. Its arms and claws made no motion as it moved. Its face, a skull mask, was expressionless.

In forty minutes, the time it would take the creature to cross the intervening ocean between it and Japan, the world would change irrevocably.

---

Though unaware, the world was not unprepared for this inevitability. Along the coast in the region of Nebukawa was a simple defense line of tanks, ready to counteract any conventional attack on Japanese soil.

The reader, of course, should be well aware that this beast would not be attacking conventionally. A nearby bird seemed to be aware of this fact as well, for rather than sticking on its perch, it rapidly flew away, calling out a warning to other creatures a few moments before the immense splash that marked the beast surfacing again.

The humanoid creature stood upright, towering over its human opponents, and slowly walked to the shore. The tanks fired quickly, letting out an electronic pulse every few seconds. Each shot either curved away from the beast or detonated harmlessly a few feet from it.

In the last seconds of his life, one tank operator made a desperate radio to headquarters. "We're not affecting it at all!"

Command wasted no time in issuing their order. Sadly, "Fall back! Let the Second Line hand-" was the only part of it that reached that tank. Immediately afterward, the beast kicked it away, destroying it upon landing. It continued, quickly crushing or kicking the tanks, which were far too slow to get away.

---

At HQ, the commanding officers watched a video feed, stunned. Finally, one stood up in anger, shouting, "Damn that thing! It wasn't even touched!"

Standing to the side of the commanding officers was a different sort of man, wearing nothing that suggested any military authority besides his jacket. Despite this, he watched the disaster with an air of absolute power. The failure of the tanks didn't faze him in the least. "As I said," he commented softly, "the Angels are not affected by conventional weaponry."

A second officer glared at him. "And how the hell would you know that, Ikari?"

Ikari smiled coolly. Everything about him, from his orange-tinted glasses, to his facial hair, to his modest but formal attire, radiated contempt. "Our research on the previous Angel, of course."

In the vast Command Center of HQ, a room built like the front of a battleship (in shape and scale), these four men kept at the absolute peak. On the tier below them, three technicians worked on their computers urgently.

"The Angel completely annihilated the First Line," the female of the three commented. She was Ibuki Maya, normally an individual who worked on keeping the vast computer networks of HQ working. Today, she had found herself monitoring a horrific battlefield, her brown eyes widening with each death.

"The Second Line is deploying," the man in the middle added. He was Hyuga Makoto, the only one who really had received training for this. Today though, he too was horrified at what he saw.

The third one, Aoba Shigeru, pointed out the thing that everyone in the room was thinking at that very moment. "Sir, the Second Line is unlikely to make any difference."

Ikari, the one he had been speaking to, nodded and turned to the military generals. "Generals? Do you have a suggestion, or shall we continue to throw human after human at them?"

The general who had stood up sat down again, uncomfortable. Ikari wasn't technically in charge here, was he? The general realized that where his jurisdiction began had never been properly established by the United Nations.

"Yes, of course… Your Project E…" the third general muttered.

The first sighed. "We'll approve its activation, but if this scenario fails…"

"We're taking over again."

Ikari nodded, completely unconcerned by the prospect of failure. "Of course." He turned to the three technicians. "Tell Doctor Akagi to begin preparations immediately."

On the monitor, the camera picked up the beast called an Angel beginning to move again. Time was running out.

"It's been fifteen years," Ibuki whispered.

Hyuga heard, and replied, even softer, "And now it's starting again…"

Ikari, though he could not have heard them, seemed to know exactly what they'd said. "We will fight them until we have won this battle. Prepare to launch Unit Zero."

All three generals and all three technicians were afraid.


	2. The First Launch

A few kilometers from Tokyo-3, someone was ignoring the evacuation alarm and driving the roads carelessly. Their blue car sped along, frequently skidding around corners and almost falling on its side. The lone driver, Katsuragi Misato, looked increasingly concerned.

"I hope he's okay," she muttered to herself. "Of all the days, why'd it have to show up on this one?"

She was a very pretty woman, her dark hair flowing down to her shoulders. Her red uniform accentuated her best characteristics, as did the small cross she wore around her neck.

---

The Angel continued its assault, but the people gathered in HQ were ready. "Evangelion Unit 00 will reach the surface in 3…" Aoba began over the radio, "2… 1…"

The Evangelion appeared, lifted up by an elevator that had been hidden under the streets. The Evangelion was a giant orange robot, with one eye. Besides this, it was a normal giant hominid, clutching a lance in its arms. The Angel regarded it coolly.

"Eva-00 successfully launched!" Aoba announced proudly.

As he said it, a line of airplanes flew over the giant robot, firing everything they had at the Angel. Not a single shot made the least bit of difference, which Hyuga noted with an anxious "The Second Line has failed to issue any damage to the target."

"We're going in for another pass!" a pilot informed HQ, as the planes flipped around and resumed their assault.

But the Angel was ready. Quickly, it raised its arm. No one was sure what happened next, except that there was a shimmer of light and that the planes suddenly flew away. They spun out of control to a rail line, where a train was speeding by. One bounced off the roof of one of the cars, but none slowed its progress.

---

Inside the train, a fourteen-year old boy was knocked about during the collision. "Wha—?" he called out, falling onto his hands and knees. The bag in the compartment above him fell onto his head. "Ow…" he whimpered, rubbing his hand through his brown hair.

Rising shakily, he stumbled to the window. Outside, both the Angel and its enemy, the Evangelion were clear. His blue eyes widened. "What- what are those things!?"

---

Eva-00, the first of the Evangelion project, tightened its hands upon the lance nervously. The Angel, Fourth in the list of beings that threatened humanity, breathed through its gills cautiously. Neither moved for a moment.

Then Eva-00 sprang forward, the twin prongs of its giant lance facing the stomach of the Angel. But it was suddenly stopped. An immense wall of concentric octagons of every color of the rainbow appeared between the two.

"An AT Field has been unfurled!" Aoba shouted over the radio.

Eva-00 wasn't giving up, pounding the lance against the wall anxiously. The Angel did nothing, just watched. The wall, however, changed, slowly shifting and rippling until it was wrapped around the lance. Then the wall moved several inches to the side and the weapon was flung away from the giants.

Eva-00 stepped back.

"Pilot Zero! Fall back for now!" Hyuga commanded desperately.

Too late. The Angel curled its hand into a fist, and the wall, the AT Field, disappeared. The Angel punched the robot, its whole weight shifting as it tried to deal as much damage as possible. The Evangelion staggered backwards, but recovered quickly and clenched its own fist and punched back.

Ibuki interjected before the battle could continue. "A gun tower is a couple blocks west! Quickly!"

The robot ran away as fast as it could, ignoring the Angel while searching out the tower. A skyscraper suddenly shifted, revealing that it was ersatz, and a single giant gun lay within it. Eva-00 grabbed it and began to fire.

The AT Field appeared again, flickering but stable.

The Angel lifted its hand. A red sphere was embedded in the palm, but it began to glow bright white.

"An immense energy reaction has been detected! Get out of there!" Aoba screeched.

Eva-00 turned around and fled. Where it had stood, a cross-shaped explosion flew out of the ground.


	3. Captain Misato Katsuragi

The train stopped, its doors swinging open automatically. The boy, Ikari Shinji, grabbed his bag and quickly dashed out of the train, running through the station and down the steps to the roads. Misato's blue car pulled up as he got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Get in! Hurry!" she cried, pushing the passenger door open.

Shinji jumped in. "What were those things!?" he shouted, shutting the door and buckling up as fast as he could, for Misato had already slammed her foot on the gas.

"The giants?" Misato asked, spinning the wheel as hard as she could. "The orange one is on our side. The other one…"

"Wait, does that mean we lost?"

"No!" Misato said, confidently. "We, er… we just probably pulled back."

"Because we're losing," Shinji muttered, watching in horror as Misato sped through another intersection, going well over the speed limit.

"Hmph. Anyways, I'm Captain Katsuragi Misato."

"And I'm-" Shinji began.

"Ikari Shinji. I know." Shinji sighed to himself as Misato continued. "You got my letter, right?"

Shinji looked down at his lap, where he'd been holding two letters. One had been thoroughly ripped to pieces and then put back together. It read, simply, "Come." The other was a picture of Misato in a revealing outfit. It had a handwritten note saying "Please board the 12:45 train to Tokyo-3 on 23/6/15. And pay attention to these!" 'These' were her breasts, as indicated by an arrow.

It did not take much intelligence to realize why Shinji had ripped apart the first letter, and why he had so suddenly changed his mind. "Er, yeah…" he answered, blushing. He looked over at his driver, especially the area around the cross she wore. But he quickly blushed and turned away.

"So, did you have a good ride?"

"Uh… Sure." Shinji didn't see how anyone could think the giant assault a "good ride".

"Good! I always find train rides boring, but-" She stopped and slammed down on the gas again, the car quickly accelerated well beyond anything Shinji felt safe. But a sudden crushing noise outside made him turn around, and see that the giant's foot had come down where the car had just been.

"Damn! That was a close one!" Misato chirped happily. When Shinji didn't answer, she turned to him, to see him curled up in his seat, trembling. "Oh, come on! That was fun, and you know it!"

"Uh… is it too late to go back home?" Shinji whimpered. This was not at all what he had been expecting.

"What? But you just got here!" Misato didn't get it at all.

Shinji gulped, and asked a different question instead. "Why'd my father want me to come here anyways?" He turned around for a moment. The Angel was behind them.

"…I'm not entirely sure why he called you here. But you two have met yearly before. Maybe he's starting that up again."

Shinji twitched. Not what he'd been hoping to hear. "No, it's not that time of year…" he said calmly. ' Besides… I always started those meetings…' he thought.

Misato tried to come up with a response, but couldn't manage anything more than, "Hmm… well, then," and a sigh.

"He didn't even say?"

This time, she didn't turn to him before answering. "No, I suppose he didn't."

"I thought maybe…" Shinji shook his head. "…never mind."

"If it makes you feel better, I didn't get along with my father either." Shinji started. How did she know? But before he could ask, she pulled out her cell phone. "Captain Katsuragi here."

Shinji sighed and pulled out his earbuds, deciding to listen to music instead.

"We need a car train as fast as possible! Yes, I know it's short notice! I wasn't exactly expecting the Fourth Angel to shop up on our doorstep today! Just do it, okay?" She hung up, sighing. "Ugh, everything with them is a struggle…"

Shinji didn't respond.

Misato glared. "Hey kid! Look outside your window! There's an Angel out there!" No reaction. "Hmph… Just a little boy, I guess."

Somehow, that did get under his skin. "And you're so mature?"

Misato temporarily lost control of the vehicle, and it swerved around on the road. "What? Hey!"

---

By this point, Eva-00 was in hiding, staying out of sight by using one of the skyscrapers. Ibuki was offering commentary and battle suggestions. "An analysis of the results suggests that you don't have the power to penetrate the AT Field. For this reason, you're going to have to go to Sector 4-A."

For the first time during the battle, the robot's pilot spoke. The pilot's voice was clearly female, but also soft, and cautious, as though she wasn't used to the words. "What is in Sector 4-A?"

"The N² Mine, of course," Ibuki replied.

"Yes, ma'am." Eva-00 immediately began running again, but the pilot wasn't fast enough. An AT Field appeared in the road in front of it, and the Angel stepped into view.

"Get out of there!" Hyuga shouted.

Eva-00's pilot disobeyed, clenching the robot's fist instead. The AT Field disappeared, the Fourth Angel ready to do something, but Eva-00 didn't wait, charging forward, getting in one good punch, and then charging on.


	4. The N2 Mine

At HQ, the technicians were hurriedly calculating the damage they expected to unleash. One woman announced quickly that there was a 67% chance of total destruction. Aoba and another woman wearing a headset were watching the video feed quietly.

"The Angel is approaching the target area."

Ikari watched the video feed for a moment as well, but he soon turned his attention to someone calling him electronically. He quickly turned his attention to his computer, where a video-feed of a blonde-haired woman in a lab coat was addressing him.

"Commander, Eva-01 is prepped and ready to launch."

"Good," was all he said.

"Has the spare arrived yet?" At her words, a picture of Shinji appeared on his computer.

"He should be arriving shortly, I'm sure."

---

Eva-00 still ran. The Fourth Angel followed. Soon, they left the maze of city streets and were running through a large park. Eva-00 continued, but the Angel hesitated.

The pilot received one instruction from Ibuki. "Pilot Zero! The mine will go off in five seconds, so keep running!" She followed it, doubling speed.

Behind her, she felt the immense explosion, the heat, everything. As the mushroom cloud expanded, Eva-00 was lifted off of its feet, flying through the air for a moment. No one could see what happened next, for the air filled with smoke.

---

Shinji and Misato had the great misfortune of being far too close to the strike of the N2 mine, a non-nuclear device that was still capable of producing the damage an atomic bomb. The car was rolled over repeatedly, and its passengers screamed in fear and pain.

Finally, they stopped moving, the car on its side. They both sat in shock, staring at Eva-00, which had landed nearby, but finally Misato came to her senses and pushed the door open to crawl out.

"Rei…" she whispered, looking up at the robot in concern.

Shinji pushed himself up as well, outraged and afraid. "Did they just launch a nuke!?"

Misato stood up. "No, of course not! An N² Mine was used. Non-nuclear!" She smiled.

He wasn't soothed by her smile. "Ugh… Why did I even come here?" He looked at the wreckage around him. Most buildings were still standing, but a few had toppled thanks to Eva-00. "What kind of enemy are we fighting, anyways?"

"The Angels," she answered. "We've already dealt with three of them. We don't know how many more there are." Misato stared at Eva-00, and Shinji followed her gaze. "These are our only weapons against the Angels…"

"So why did we use an N² Mine?" Shinji muttered.

She glared at him again. "Okay, we have a couple more weapons. But they aren't as good. I mean, look at all the collateral damage. It's this sort of stuff we're fighting against…"

Shinji scoffed.

Misato gave up. "Well, come on. We need to get to Nerv Headquarters, even if the Angel is dead."

---

Back at HQ, the techies had changed from planning the assault to attempting to figure out what had just happened.

"All analyses of the impact zone are inconclusive."

"The EM Pulse has knocked most of our instruments there offline."

"Send in a helicopter," Ikari ordered.

They waited for a few moments, but the helicopter soon moved into position and the tactical maps that were being electronically generated were updated. "No sign of the Angel…" Ibuki commented.

"We believe the target has gone silent." Hyuga sounded relieved.

"Keep probing. We can't be sure yet." Ikari was the only person in the room who wasn't a few moments away from celebrating. He doubted that an N2 Mine could accomplish the destruction of an Angel.

The smoke began to clear from the helicopter's aerial view. A shadow or silhouette was visible in the mess.

"The body has been detected. Still no sign of activity." Aoba's face fell as he said the words.

The smoke finally left the view. The Angel was still there, though damaged. Slowly, its face began to move downward, and something protruded from the space where it had been. A second mask.

"It's begun regenerating itself!" Ibuki exclaimed. They'd lost. The N2 Mine and the Evangelion Unit had failed. The Angel was almost in perfect shape.

The Angel's face turned to the helicopter, and the eyeholes lit up.

The camera view turned to static.


	5. The Mysterious Girl

The park was ruined, but Misato wasn't paying any attention to that. "Come on!"

She and Shinji were pushing against the car, trying to right it before something worse happened in the general area. Both were wearing down, but eventually they righted the vehicle.

"There!" Misato said, brushing her hands together. "Thanks, Shinji!"

He nodded in response, but turned away quickly. In the smoke, he saw a strange blue-haired girl, dressed in a school uniform. She was pointing upwards.

Pointing at the Angel, which was on the move.

"Ack! We gotta go! Now!" Shinji cried to Misato. He turned back to the smoke, but couldn't see the girl. There wasn't any time to worry about that. He and Misato jumped in, and she floored the gas.

"Thanks again… Uh… I'm sorry that all these attacks have been happening on the day you get here…"

Shinji didn't answer. He was looking behind them. The Angel was going in their direction.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"Wha-? Oh. Sorry." Shinji sighed. "Uh… I just…"

"Never mind," Misato said, rolling her eyes.

---

The pilot of Eva-00, Ayanami Rei, opened her eyes. Her blue hair was in front of them, and she straightened it out before looking down at herself. She couldn't see out of one eye, but the other confirmed that her plugsuit, the skintight uniform of pilots, was still intact. "Uh…" she whimpered, but pushed herself upright.

Her arm didn't move right. She ignored that.

"Command? What is the status of the target?"

"It has reactivated!" Hyuga announced.

"Then… What are my orders?"

"You will defeat the Angel. What else?" That was Ikari.

Rei looked down. "Yes, sir." She pressed a button and the Entry Plug she was sitting in lit back up. "Power restored."

---

Eva-00 pushed itself up slowly.

The Angel stomped down on it. Both of the Angel's masks were looking down at Eva-00.

But it wasn't ready for Eva-00 grabbing the ankle of the beast and pulling, knocking it onto its feet, and giving Eva-00 just enough time to rise unsteadily.

"Be ready for its AT Field!" Aoba cautioned.

Eva-00 pulled the Angel up. The AT Field shimmered in the air, but failed to materialize. The pilot quickly threw the Angel back into a building. The creature pulled itself up, staring for a moment. Eva-00 stared back, and Rei was quite surprised when the creature ran away.

"What…?"

"It's heading for the waters!" Ibuki explained.

Rei shivered. "Should I pursue?"

"Go. It can't leave the city," Ikari instructed.

Eva-00 burst after the Angel. But it was too late, the Angel had already sunk into the lake. Rei looked down.

"…You don't have B-type Equipment. Return to base." Those were Ibuki's last instructions.


	6. Get in

Misato and Shinji had found their car train. They were the only thing on it.

Shinji looked behind him. "Was it okay to take those batteries?"

Misato looked at the batteries they had installed for the car to work properly. "Yes, of course. I'm a government official. We'll pay them back after this battle." They sat in awkward silence for a few moments. "So, I bet you know all about your father's work."

"No," Shinji admitted. "I knew he was doing something to save the world, but that's all I was told."

"I see." Misato wondered if she would ever find something to talk about with Shinji.

She didn't have long to wait. Suddenly, light appeared, and Shinji was sitting with his hands and face pressed against the window.

"Wow! It's a real Geofront!"

Below them was a gigantic underground cavity, but it was sunlit and below them was a natural terrain that would not have been out of place above ground. Forests, plains, and a lake stretched below them, as well as a few artificial structures like a giant pyramid.

"Yes. This is the Headquarters of Nerv. It's entirely self-sustaining."

Shinji's eyes were wide with wonderment. "It's immense!"

---

Two doctors were carting Rei towards a hospital room.

"The pilot is in critical condition! We're gonna need a sedative!" one declared.

"Denied. The Commander says she must remain conscious until the Angel crisis has ended." Doctor Akagi's voice was cool over the radio.

"But… that's cruel," the other protested. Nothing else was said as they got to the end of the corridor and got her into an elevator. The elevator doors closed.

The elevator next to it opened, and Shinji and Misato walked out.

"We're lost, aren't we?"

"Not exactly lost…" Misato began.

"We just don't know where we are?"

Misato glared as they set off down the corridor. "Look, this place is only a few hundred floors. We'll find our way eventually."

---

One of the rooms on one of the floors was filled with a blood red fluid, dominated by a giant cooling fan. Doctor Akagi, wearing scuba gear, surfaced as someone over the intercom said "Dr. Akagi, please report to Level E17. Dr. Akagi to Level E17."

"Ugh," she muttered. "What is it now, Misato?" She climbed out of the pool and removed her gear. "You better not have gotten lost again."

---

Shinji had found another elevator, and now was reading a Nerv manual while he and Misato waited to arrive at their floor of choice. Suddenly, the doors opened, revealing Doctor Akagi.

"Captain Katsuragi."

"Ah! Rits-chan!" Misato said apologetically.

"Rits-chan" stepped in and adjusted her lab coat. "You're so irresponsible." She turned to Shinji. "Is this the boy?"

Misato nodded.

Shinji was pretending not to have noticed, but anyone who might have been standing behind him would have seen he was looking at a blank page.

"It's nice to meet you," Doctor Akagi said.

"Huh? Oh… yeah."

Misato laughed. "He's a bit like his father."

Doctor Akagi raised an eyebrow, but the elevator stopped and Shinji stepped past her into the room.

"Huh? It's all dark!"

Doctor Akagi pushed him in further. The lights came on, revealing another Evangelion, a purple model with a giant horn on its head.

"Wha- what is that thing?" Shinji cried, looking terrified.

"This is the Artificial Construction Evangelion Model Eva-01," the doctor explained.

"And you will pilot it."

Shinji looked up to Commander Ikari. "Fathe- what?"

"Get in."

"Wait… is this why you sent for me?"

"Yes," his father said coldly.

"But… but I've never done this before! You can't expect me to fight against that thing!"

His father didn't care. "You must."

Shinji was crushed. His father hadn't wanted him after all. Just a tool. "I knew… I knew you didn't really care… You just needed me for this. Why me?"

"No one else can."

"I've never done anything like this before!"

"You will be instructed," Ikari explained, cutting away Shinji's excuses one by one.

"I can't!"

"Then leave." Cold, but effective.

All the workers who had been prepping the Evangelion for launch stopped to stare, from all their vantage points. Shinji hung his head.

"Now," Doctor Akagi began, but Shinji turned away from her, desperately looking to Misato.

"Get in," she said, all joking attitude gone.

Shinji couldn't believe it.


	7. Sudden Protection

His father turned to a monitor. "Aoba," he said. A monitor flicked on, revealing Aoba's face. "Retrieve Rei."

"But she's still inju-"

"She isn't dead," Ikari said. Aoba nodded sadly, and the display changed, but not to a video display. "Rei," Ikari began.

"Yes?" the girl gasped out.

"The pilot is uncooperative. You will pilot."

"Yes sir."

Doctor Akagi nodded to herself and announced to the workers, "… Reconfigure Eva-01's system to Pilot Zero." She and Misato began to walk away.

On the intercom, Ibuki responded. "Roger. Cancel the current procedures. Reactivate now."

Shinji hadn't moved. He looked down at the floor. 'I knew it,' he thought. He remembered it, of course. All the times Father had hurt him. How young he'd been when they had parted ways. "He doesn't need me."

Rei was brought in, heavily bandaged, on her gurney. The nurses brought her past Shinji, and he stared. When the bed stopped, she tried to push herself up. She could barely do that without whimpering in pain. Shinji watched, without knowing what to do.

---

The Angel was back, standing on a mountain and looking down at the city. The eye holes in its mask lit up, and a pillar of light arose from the buildings it had hit.

---

The Geofront shook from the impact, knocking Rei off of her bed. Shinji fell over as well, and watched in horror as ceiling lights were knocked away and began falling towards him. He tried to shelter himself with his arms as Misato cried "Look out!" but he didn't move.

The Eva did, lifting its arm and deflecting all the ceiling lights. One bounced away towards the booth above where Ikari stood. They bounced off the reinforced glass there too, leaving only Ikari, smiling down. Shinji looked up in horror.

The workers were protesting in shock. "The Eva moved!"

"How could it?"

"It wrenched off the restraints on the right arm!"

"Impossible! The Entry Plug hadn't been inserted!" Doctor Akagi muttered to herself. "It shouldn't have been able to move!"

Misato got back to her feet. "It reacted without any reason… Was it protecting something?" She looked at Shinji. "Him?" Her face slowly began to harden. "… We can do it," she muttered to herself.

Shinji ran to Rei, picking her up. She cried out. He looked from Eva to girl. She wouldn't be able to survive this. Shinji could feel her blood on his hands. 'Father… why would you do this?'

He took a deep breath. 'I have to pilot… I have to… I have to… I have to…'

He looked up at his father. "I'll do it. I'll pilot it."


	8. Launch, again

Preparations began. Water was drained from the Evangelion's Cage.

In the Command Center, Ibuki watched over displays of the pilot's progress. The displays were slowly turning green. A good sign. "The stop signal is confirmed."

Slowly, a cylindrical object was pushed into the area of the Evangelion's spine. "Roger. Insert the entry plug." The object, the entry plug, was pushed into place. The object pushing it withdrew. A cap fastened on top of the plug, hiding it from view. The Evangelion looked completely normal.

Inside the Entry Plug, Shinji was trying not to panic.

"Entry Plug filling," Ibuki announced.

"Eh?" A liquid began pouring into the Entry Plug. "W-what is this stuff!?" Shinji shut his mouth, not breathing.

Doctor Akagi interjected on the radio. "Calm down. You won't drown. This is LCL, an advanced breathing technology. You'll get used to it."

Shinji finally began to breathe again, despite the liquid. "Ugh, I feel sick."

Misato added her bit. "Deal with it! Be a man already!" Shinji couldn't believe she'd changed so much.

The array of technobable continued. Power was transmitted, the second level of contact was entered, the A-10 nerve was connected to, and synchronization was at 10.325%. Apparently the last value was unusual, for Doctor Akagi commented with, "That's incredible…"

"All harmonics values are normal. Everything is stable."

"We can do it," Doctor Akagi said, amazed.

"Prepare to launch!" Misato ordered, Hyuga repeating the order a minute later.

Slowly, the restraints were pulled away from the Evangelion, with announcements accompanying each bit removed. Then, they moved the Evangelion from its resting position to a launch pad to get it above the surface. Shinji tried to breathe through each step.

---

"There's nothing to worry about, right?" Misato asked after the preparations were complete.

"Of course not," Ikari replied. "Unless we defeat the Angels, we have no future."

"Sir, do you really think we can do this?" Aoba asked, looking up at him.

Ikari merely smiled.

"Launch!" Misato ordered.

---

The launch pad activated, rocketing Eva-01 up a complicated system of levers and pulleys that moved at gravitic speeds. At street level, a door in the ground was opened, and Eva-01 appeared in the middle of the street, forced into a slouch as the high speeds abated.

The Angel watched, facing the Eva that had appeared in the middle of the darkness.

Shinji tensed up.

---

Everyone watched, just as horrified as they'd been the whole day.

'Shinji-kun… Don't get killed out there,' Misato thought sadly.


	9. The Battle

Both giants stared at each other.

"Are you ready, pilot?" Misato asked over the radio.

"Er… yes…" Shinji responded, trying not to sound too scared.

"Release the final lock," Misato instructed.

The final restraints against Eva-01 were undone, and Doctor Ritsuko Akagi stepped forward in front of the microphone. "Now, Child One, advance," she said coolly. Eva-01 staggered forward. "Good. Just focus on walking for now."

Shinji nodded. "Right. One step…"

Eva-01 took another step; the concrete under it cracked. It lifted its leg again, but somehow stumbled, resulting in Eva-01 falling onto its face. In the Entry Plug, Shinji clutched his head and moaned from the pain that had resulted from falling forward.

"Child One…" Misato began, exasperated. "Get up, and hurry."

The Angel had been still for some time, but moved again now, reaching out for Eva-01's head. Shinji watched, horrified.

"I said get up!"

Shinji screamed. The Angel had already blocked all of the view from the screen he had to the outside world. It finally made contact and drew Eva-01 up, perfectly like a machine. Shinji just watched in terror.

Then the Angel grabbed one of the Eva's arms, using it to hold the robot up. The Angel's muscles expanded rapidly, and it began to squeeze and twist on the arm.

It broke. Shinji screamed again, clutching at his own arm.

"Child One! Focus! That's not your real arm!"

Shinji did nothing except whimper as the Angel continued its assault. Real arm or not, he felt every bit of pain.

"What's happening with the defense?" Ritsuko asked back in HQ.

"It's not deploying!" Ibuki announced, looking away from the screen showing Shinji's suffering.

'What!? It's useless?" Ritsuko turned to a keyboard and began typing rapidly, ignoring the sudden sound of wires snapping.

"The left arm has broken!"

"Circuits have snapped!" Aoba added.

Ikari watched without a trace of an expression. "What is she waiting for…?" he muttered.

Ritsuko turned. "What was that, sir?"

"Nothing. Can you eject the Entry Plug?"

Misato shook her head in response. "Not yet, sir. We should see if he can snap out of this."

"Very well."

The Angel pulled Eva-01 even further off the ground.

"Child One," Misato ordered. "do something now!"

Shinji didn't move.

A red orb on the Angel's hand lit up. A bone suddenly protruded from the Angel's elbow, and then slid back in, coming out through the hand and colliding with Eva-01's face.

Shinji clutched at his own.

"Come on already! Fight back!"

The bone collided with Eva-01 twice more. Shinji covered his right eye, and tears streamed through his left. Three more times. Three more times.

"A crack is forming in the cranial armor!"

"It can't hold much longer!"

The bone slid into Eva-01's right eye and came out the other end. Then it receded again, leaving an immense hole in Eva-01's face.

"Do something!" Misato screamed.

The bone collided one more time, with so much force that Eva-01 was knocked back into a tower. It lay there, bleeding heavily.

In HQ, they watched in horror as all of the displays began to go dark.

"The circuits are disconnecting!" Hyuga cried.

"No response from the pilot!"

Ibuki pounded her fist on her keyboard in frustration.

Misato looked on, terrified. "Shinji-kun!" she cried.


	10. Berserk Mode

Misato looked on, terrified. "Shinji-kun!" she cried. But her calls did nothing. The Eva continued to bleed and lie against the building. Instead, alarms began to come on.

"The head has been damaged! Extent unknown!"

"We can't keep maintaining activation!"

"Status?!" Misato asked.

"His synchronization is collapsing!"

"Deactivate the A-10 Nerve Unit," Ritsuko told Ibuki.

"We can't!" she protested. "The signal is being refused! We can't deactivate!"

"What about Shinji-kun?!" Misato asked, leaning over Hyuga's shoulder.

"The sensors are deactivated! He could be dead!"

"Eva-01 is completely silent!"

They'd failed again.

"Misato!" Ritsuko said, wondering what she planned next.

"We've got to stop this." Misato turned to Ibuki. "Abort the operation! The pilot's protection is top priority! Force-eject the plug!"

"We can't! It's completely out of control!"

"What? How?"

The Eva's remaining eye lit up. Its jaw widened, destroying the restraints that held the mouth shut. It had white teeth within!

"The Eva has reactivated."

"…it shouldn't be able to move," Ibuki whispered.

"Impossible."

"It's gone berserk…" Ritsuko watched in amazement.

Eva-01 lifted its head and roared. It stood up and leapt down the street, rolling in midair. It connected feet first with the chest of the Angel, but leapt off of it quickly, before it had a chance to strike.

Roaring again, it charged to the Angel. The AT Field appeared in midair again, stopping the charge.

"The AT Field? Dammit!" Ritsuko said, still watching.

Eva-01 pounded against the octagons of light.

"It's no use! As long as that AT Field is up…"

"It can't touch the Angel!" Ritsuko finished.

But Eva-01 wasn't deterred. Swinging its arm back, an action which improbably caused the armor to heal, Eva-01 pushed forward.

"The left arm is fully restored!"

"Both mechanical and biological parts!"

"Incredible," Misato whispered.

Eva-01 plunged into the AT Field, its hands slowly slipping through and pulling the shapes apart.

"Eva-01 is also expanding an AT Field. They're cancelling each other out!"

"About time," Ikari whispered. No one heard him.

"No, it's eroding it!" Ritsuko said, correcting Ibuki.

Eva-01 stretched out, pulling as hard as it could, and the shapes of the AT Field fell apart and vanished.

"That AT Field was so easily…"

Eva-01 pushed forward one last time.


	11. Destruction

The Angel's mask, cracked from the non-nuclear explosion, lit up quickly with the collapse of the AT Field, and the streets were bathed in an unearthly, blinding light, forming a cross.

Eva-01 wasn't deterred. It reached out and grabbed the Angel's arms. Almost smiling, the Eva twisted the arms around until they snapped. Then it kicked the Angel away.

The battle had become a mirror image of earlier events, the Angel flying down the streets as Eva-01 had once done. When it finally collided with a building, Eva-01 charged at it, colliding so forcefully the building collapsed.

The Eva reached down at the Angel's abdomen, where several rib bones stuck out and a red sphere sat within. It pounded at the core a few times to no avail. Instead, it tore a rib bone out and began beating the Angel… whose arms became whip-like, grabbing Eva-01 and wrapping around it. Soon the whole of the Angel was wrapped around the machine in the shape of a sphere.

"It's going to self-destruct!" Misato realized.

And it did. The explosion was massive. When it finally faded, all that was left was a cross-shaped image and a rainbow above it.

"Is the Eva…?" Misato stopped when she heard footsteps. In the blaze, the Evangelion was walking. Everyone watched, terrified.

"That is Eva's…" Ritsuko began.

"…true state." Misato gulped.

Only Ikari smiled.

---

Shinji couldn't scream any more. He just sat there, almost cataconic.

"The Eva is…covered. Everything….life signs…squad, hurry. …safety…priority." Words drifted in and out. He barely heard them. He was watching the Evangelion's reflection in a building nearby.

The Evangelion's head fell to the ground. Shinji looked at it. Slowly, something moved inside the empty eye socket. Slowly, an eye began to grow.

Slowly, Shinji began to scream.

The glowing shape of a woman appeared over Shinji. "Shh… Calm down." She had no face. "I won't hurt you."

Shinji continued to scream for sometime after that, before he suddenly passed out.

---

In Evangelion-00's cage, Ikari and Ritsuko were speaking while repairs were undergoing.

"She has awakened, it seems."

Ritsuko nodded. "Evangelion Unit 01's artificial intelligence system is operating at full capacity. Much better than we expected for such a low synch ratio."

"Much better than we dared hope for… But I think we both knew how successful the project would be."

Ritsuko scoffed. "And the girl?"

Ikari smiled. "She'll be better in twenty-one days."

"Why not just accelerate her schedule?" Ritsuko clearly wasn't referring to medicine. She was also ignoring the fact that while a purple compound was being poured into the Cage, freezing Eva-00, it was roaring and struggling.

"We still need it, and risking things like that so quickly would be unwise. A change in schedule has never been tested."

"We could just make a new one, you know."

Ikari smiled and shrugged.


	12. In our image and God's, amen

Shinji woke up in a hospital room, much like any other. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking around. Sterile floor, walls, ceiling, windows, bed, chairs… He lay back down. "…This place feels so unfamiliar. I don't want to be here at all."

A nurse came into the room. "Ah – good, you're awake."

Shinji nodded.

"Do you remember anything?"

"Huh?"

"About the battle?"

Shinji was too confused to answer.

"Good. Then mental contamination is unlikely. Sit up, it's time for lunch."

---

At the crater that had been formed by the Angel's explosion, Nerv was hurriedly working to repair the damage and retrieve the Evangelion. A sign reading "Danger: No Entry Zone," had been posted for civilians. Several helicopters were tugging Eva-01's head away. 

---

"So the Angels have… been released?" asked a man in a rather fancy suit, sitting at a table with five other gentlemen, one of them Ikari. "We were not expecting them to arrive so soon."

"They seem to be more like forces of nature than anything else," another added.

"We are glad to hear that not all of our preparations were in vain."

"Don't be so sure. That was one Angel. The Dead Sea Scrolls predicts fourteen more and th-" the fourth man began.

"Enough of that," the second commanded. "We should focus on one battle at a time."

"Yes, and before that, there's something else we must worry about."

"Now that Evangelion has been unveiled, Nerv will have to restrict information on them, to ensure that the public receives only the best view of the situation," the third noted.

"That has been taken care of already, I assure you." Ikari sighed to himself. The Committee operated by completely overloading him, trying to trip him up in one way or another.

---

At the crater, Misato had already set up a TV and was watching intently. Every channel displayed the same news about the attack. "So, public news. That's scenario B-22."

"Our PR people are happy to have something to do, I guess. But…" Ritsuko sighed. The Angel attack had not gone according to plan at all.

"But everybody's nervous."

Understatement of the century.

---

"Good. Then we have little else to worry about."

"However, there are definitely other problems."

"Eva-00 is currently in reparative stasis…"

"And Eva-01 is, while repairable, heavily damaged."

"You are going to bankrupt us, Ikari."

"And there is something else to worry about. The Human Instrumentality Project. Your highest priority."

Ikari didn't even try to interject throughout this.

The sixth man, however, did. Lorenz Kiel. Old, and decaying. They said most of him was cybernetic. If he had eyes, they were hidden behind a visor. "In any case, the rest of the meeting no longer concerns you, Ikari."

The four men disappeared. They had only been holograms.

"We do this to save mankind. There is no turning back from paradise… We do this to rise in our image and in God's. Amen." Kiel disappeared after that.

Ikari sighed. "I know. Mankind has no time left."


	13. I'm sure we can do it!

Shinji stared out the hospital window. There was nothing to do except wait, and he was growing impatient. The constant calls of the cicadas were annoying as well.

However, under the noise of the bugs was something else. A rolling sound. Shinji turned to it, to see Rei being led on a gurney past him. They made eye contact for a fleeting moment, then she was past.

Shinji sighed and went the other way, stopping at an elevator. When the doors opened though, he stopped. Ikari was standing there. Shinji took a step backwards in shock, and failed to step forward before the elevator doors shut.

---

Eva-01 had been retrieved, and Misato and Ritsuko were carting its head back to HQ.

"You know, I think that if next fight we don't get our Evas so damaged, we just might have a chance," Misato commented.

"I see I'm friends with an optimist…"

"What? Shinji and Rei are competent."

Ritsuko shook her head. "You really overestimate them, and the Evas…"

"An attitude like that won't get us anywhere!"

"Maybe not, but he got pretty beat up. I still haven't heard if he was contaminated or not… And even if he isn't… Do you really think he's going to pilot again?"

Misato looked more and more concerned the more Ritsuko spoke. "I…"

"And as for Rei… She's really only good at following orders."

"Well, it's a start. Don't be such a downer." Misato wasn't going to let Ritsuko rain on her parade. "I know we can do this if we try hard enough. With a team like this, plus the other Evangelion units like the one arriving next month, and everyone in the city works at full efficiency, then I'm sure we can do it!"

Ritsuko shook her head.

---

The elevator doors opened again. Misato walked out and smiled at Shinji. "Hi!"

"Oh… hello."

"Are you discharged, then?" Misato asked, trying to be friendlier than last night.

"Yes."

"Good!" Misato exclaimed.

---

Ritsuko and Ibuki rode down an immense escalator.

"They don't want to live together? You'd think they'd find that unnatural…" Ibuki commented.


	14. Tokyo3

The elevator doors opened again. Misato walked out and smiled at Shinji. "Hi!"

"Oh… hello."

"Are you discharged, then?" Misato asked, trying to be friendlier than last night.

"Yes."

"Good!" Misato exclaimed.

---

Ritsuko and Ibuki rode down an immense escalator.

"They don't want to live together? You'd think they'd find that unnatural…" Ibuki commented.

---

Misato and Shinji had found a room with a glass floor overlooking the pyramid. "You'll be living alone?" she asked, still trying to be friendly.

He nodded. "I'm fine with that, really, it's no big deal."

Misato shook her head in response. "Of course it isn't!"

---

"What?!" Ritsuko screamed over the phone. Misato moved the phone a bit from her head as Ritsuko continued. "I can't believe this!"

Misato moved the phone back in. "Rits-chan… Come on. He's alone. You can't really expect me to just leave him to live by himself."

"I can!" Ritsuko said firmly.

"What are you afraid of, Ritsuko? He's half my age," Misato said teasingly.

"He's fourteen! How can you even think about that!?"

"No sense of humor, huh?" Misato sighed. "Okay, look, Ritsuko… It's done, okay?"

"Then you're taking full responsibility of him, I assume?"

"I… well, of course." Now she didn't sound so confident.

Ritsuko took a deep breath. "Then I guess you're in charge. Fine."

Misato smiled and bowed, even though Ritsuko wouldn't see her. "Don't worry. He'll be fine."

"Good luck…" was Ritsuko's only comment before hanging up.

---

Soon after, Shinji and Misato were driving home. "Mind if we make a quick stop before we head up to my apartment?" she asked.

Shinji blinked. "Where are we going?"

"To get party supplies, of course!" When Shinji still didn't seem to get it, Misato added, ""I'm getting a new roommate!"

"Oh."

So they stopped at a convenience store, and Misato soon gathered up everything she though sufficient for a party: instant and beer. Shinji didn't pay her much attention, instead hearing two women talk.

"I think we're gonna be moving soon…"

"Us too! This city's just too dangerous…"

Shinji sighed, and Misato, who had been paying attention to him, looked over sympathetically.

---

Misato had one last stop in mind before going home, so she took Shinji up to the top of a hill overlooking the city.

"It seems so empty," he commented.

"Watch," she instructed.

Down in the city, towers began to rise out of the ground, each one's windows reflecting the setting sun.

"Amazing!" Shinji cried.

Misato smiled. "This is your new home. Tokyo-3." She put her arm around Shinji's shoulder, but the friendliness in her voice was replaced by fear. "This is our last defense against the Angels. This is what you'll have to defend until the war ends."

They both looked down.


	15. Misato's Apartment

Misato opened her apartment door while Shinji held the bags. "This is your new home."

Shinji crossed the threshold slowly, he couldn't quite believe the events of the day. "I… I'm home."

"Welcome home," Misato said, not automatically like most would, but genuinely.

The warm and fuzzy feeling both felt disappeared as Shinji regarded the filthy living room.

"Sorry about the mess," Misato said, noticing Shinji's disgusted face. "It's not much, so you probably won't find it so bad."

The table was covered in plates covered in mold and half-eaten food. The floor had beer cans scattered all around it. Several bits of clothing (some… definitely not for women) adorned the couch.

"This is a little?"

Misato, already in her bedroom, turned around and called, "Oh! You can just put everything in the fridge!"

Shinji turned to the kitchens and noticed that there were two fridges. "Wha… which one?" he asked, examining them. Misato didn't respond, but when Shinji heard something like snoring coming from the smaller of the two, he knew which one she'd meant.

He opened the fridge and regarded its contents critically. Beer, instant, and ice. Misato's favorites, no doubt. "What kind of life does Misato-san lead?" he wondered.

Misato had moved on to a different room. "Oh, good! Shinji, your stuff is all here!" she called, regarding the few cases and the cello case with satisfaction.

"Good…" Shinji said, joining her. "Oh, Misato-san? What's in the other refrigerator?"

She laughed. "Oh, him? He's your other roommate."

Shinji looked at the fridge with apprehension. Misato continued to laugh.

---

They'd soon microwaved their food, and had settled in to eat.

"Let's eat!" they both cried, and then Misato began digging to the food, greedily and messily. Shinji looked away. Then, of course, Misato chugged down a beer and let out a whoop.

And only then did she notice Shinji again. "What's wrong? It's all good, even if it is all instant…"

"I'm just not that hungry…" Shinji said.

Misato glared. "Are you finicky!?" She reached forward, grabbing Shinji's head, shaking him around. "Don't be so picky!" She let go, leaning back and sighing. "Isn't this nice? Eating with another person… It's sort of like a date."

Shinji blushed, not really sure how else to react. She smiled back. "If you're not hungry, you could always go take a bath…"

He nodded. "Yeah, I think I will…"

He went to the bathroom and stripped, ignoring Misato's laundry rack above him. He opened the door to the bath, and stopped short. A penguin was on the other side, and it started shaking itself.

Shinji screamed and ran back to the living room. "Misato-san!"

She giggled. "Have you met Pen-Pen?" she asked.

The penguin walked by, Shinji stared in shock.

'I'm never going to get used to this place.'


	16. Hell Train

In the bathroom, Shinji contemplated. "Misato Katsuragi… She's not a bad person…"

Misato was also contemplating. "I wonder if I'm being too cheery. It's been a long time since I've talked to someone his age." After a moment, she corrected herself. "Actually, I don't think I've ever talked to someone his age…"

Shinji sighed. "But bad memories always seem to find me when I'm in the bath." 'Father,' he thought, giving one example. '…and…'

"Rei Ayanami?"

---

When Shinji had finished bathing, Misato had kindly set up a sign on the door of his room. "Shin-chan's Room." His room itself was still unpacked, however, and Shinji lay on a mattress between cardboard boxes. He kept switching between two songs, listening sadly, until he began to drift to sleep.

But some strange noise interrupted that, and he jerked awake, looking around at the ceiling before he remembered where he was. "Just another home I don't know…" he muttered. He remembered his father, telling him to leave. "Not that he cares…"

---

Misato was bathing. "Yes, yes, I know what I said," she responded to someone on the phone. "Look, works stuff came up, okay?" No response. She hung up. "I just don't want him to be alone," she said.

She began rising. "I wanted to make up for how I treated him… I acted like he was just a tool. I'm as bad as Ritsuko."

---

Shinji lay in his bed, maybe awake, maybe asleep. Either way, he was staring at the ceiling, and the patterns on it looked like eyes, staring down at him. He looked away, to the window. The moon was turning red. He blinked, and listened in confusion as a train went by.

He was in the train. His S-DAT was still with him, but that was it.

Rei sat across from him, uninjured. "Ikari-kun."

"Huh…?" Where had she come from?

"Hello, Ikari-kun," she said, in an almost monotone.

"Am I dreaming?"

She shrugged. "Somewhat…"

He was holding her in his arms. "I'll do it! I'll pilot it!"

He was sitting down.

"Why did you pilot?"

"Because I had to!" Shinji said. He couldn't look at her and he wasn't sure why.

"No, you didn't."

"If I didn't, you would have died!"

"Are you so sure?"

"Yes!"

"What about now?"

"What do you mean?"

There was Evangelion Unit-01, and it was the world. It, and Rei's voice. "I am no longer in danger of dying."

Then it was Evangelion Unit-00, also the world. "Will you pilot now?" Rei asked.

Shinji didn't answer, and when Rei became convinced he would not, the train doors opened, and strange, convulsing shadows were clustered outside.

Shinji woke up. He rolled away from the ceiling. "If I don't have to do this, can I go back?" he whispered, thinking back to his older house in rural Japan.

Misato was standing outside Shinji's room, though she had not heard him. She opened her mouth to speak, but could not find the words, so she walked away. "Good night, Shinji-kun," she said, amazed how easy it was to speak when he wasn't present.

"You did a brave thing, but for some reason, I'm too cowardly to congratulate you…" She lay down sadly. "If he can be brave, why can't I?"


	17. Hedgehog's Dilemma

It was morning. Shinji had been up for what felt like ages, preparing for the school day and even making breakfast. Now he was knocking on Misato's door, hoping she'd get up at some point. Finally, he gave up and pushed the door open.

"Misato-san… it's time for breakfast…"

The lump that was Misato and her blankets wiggled a bit, then she said, "Ugh… I had a late night, so… will you please let me sleep?"

"Right. Sorry." Shinji began to shut the door, but suddenly Misato's stuck out of the lumps.

"Stop being so subservient! It's okay!" she shouted.

Shinji nodded quickly. "Right," he repeated.

"Oh," said Misato, switching back to happy, "and can you take the trash out, please?"

Again Shinji nodded. "Okay," he said.

---

After leaving the apartment, Shinji quickly threw the bags into the incinerators that every apartment block of Tokyo-3 provided, and then turned his S-DAT on and made his way through the crowded streets.

Fifteen minutes of walking later, and he'd arrived in the classroom, and the Class Representative, Horaki Hikari, approached him. "Oh! Ikari-kun! Are you getting used to the school?"

"Yes, I suppose," he said. He tried to smile, and she smiled back.

"Okay, good. If you need anything…" She trailed off, looking towards an empty desk, sighing.

"Okay, Class Rep," Shinji said, going to his own desk, and looking around the room. One guy was playing a guitar and his friends were watching, a pair was reading a magazine together, three girls were gossiping, a boy and a girl were comparing homework, and a couple of girls were even messing about with their hair.

No one noticed him.

Not even Rei. She stared out a window the whole time.

The teacher entered, and Hikari quickly issued instructions. Class began.

---

"I'm worried, Rits-chan," Misato commented. "He has a cell phone, but no one ever calls him." She was on the phone again.

"Maybe Shinji just doesn't make friends easily. Have you heard of the Hedgehog's Dilemma?"

"The what?"

"The Hedgehog's Dilemma. The closer you get, the more you hurt each other. Like hedgehogs, huddling together for warmth."

Misato sighed. "That does sound like him… So… he's just staying away from people so he doesn't have to get hurt?"

"Yes," Ritsuko said. "Can you really blame him? His mother died, he was separated from his father… He doesn't want to get close to people because of it."

"Yes, I suppose so. I just feel bad for him, you know?"

"Of course, you are taking care of him, after all."

The conversation ended shortly after that.


	18. Pull the switch

After school, Shinji soon ended up in the Entry Plug of Evangelion Unit-01. The plug was dark at first, but it soon lit up and Shinji began to hear voices over the intercom.

"Good morning, Shinji-kun. How are you?" Ritsuko asked.

"I'm getting used to it. I guess it's okay," he said. He didn't really sound interested in what was going on around him.

"That's good. Have you memorized all of the Eva launch points, power sources, armament locations, and recovery spots?"

"I think so," he responded.

"Then, let's review one more time." Ritsuko began a long-winded speech about the power sources of the Evangelions, specifically that they had to have an umbilical cord or they would run out of power in five minutes. "Do you understand?"

"Yes…" Still he remained uninterested.

"Then we'll start from where we were yesterday. Initiate Induction Mode."

A counter began, ticking down from five minutes. Shinji immediately readied Eva-01's weapon of choice: the pallet gun. This was all only a simulation, something like the holodeck from old science fiction shows, but he would still feel pain.

The simulation began, a white-washed version of Tokyo-3 appearing, along with an electronic version of the Angel Shinji had fought the previous night.

"Position the target in the center… then pull the switch!" Ritsuko instructed.

Shinji pressed down on the trigger. The gun fired. The shots missed completely.

"Slow down. Position the target in the center."

Shinji nodded and whispered, "Switch." He pulled the trigger again. The gun fired. The Angel died quickly.

"Again," Ritsuko instructed. She was watching from an observation booth, cold and as uncaring as Shinji. There was another simulated explosion, another simulated death. Ibuki was next to her.

"I wonder why Shinji-kun is still piloting it, sempai."

"He just follows the orders he's given, by anyone who outranks him. That's his secret to surviving in life…" Ritsuko had no qualms about criticizing Shinji in this way. "…isn't it?" She turned to Misato, who stood away from the others.

She didn't respond.

"Target in the center, pull the switch." He fired.

"Target in the center, pull the switch." The words meant nothing now, an empty prayer.

"Target in the center, pull the switch." He was barely even aware of himself.

He pulled the trigger. The Angel died again.


	19. The Email

"Ahh… And so, humankind was about to face its greatest trial. In the last year of the 20th century, the massive meteor from space slammed into the continent of Antarctica. The continent of ice was melted instantaneously. The water level of the oceans rose, the Earth was thrown off its axis, and abnormal weather patterns throughout the world threatened the lives of all living things.

"Thousands of species and half of the human population were lost forever. That was the so-called 'Second Impact'. Economic collapse, ethnic conflicts, civil wars… Those who survived them still faced every possible hell."

No one listened. They'd heard this all before and the teacher just droned on and on and on. Shinji was trying to, but finally he returned his attention to his computer. Someone was trying to message him.

He accepted the call, and text was rapidly typed out. "Is it true that you're the robot's pilot?"

"However, it has been fifteen years since then."

Shinji looked around curiously, searching for the sender.

"In only fifteen years, we were able to restore ourselves."

Two girls smiled and waved at Shinji.

"This is certainly proof of the human race's resilience, but even more so, it is the fruit of the blood, sweat and tears your fathers and mothers have dedicated to this cause."

More text appeared. "It's true, isn't it? Y/N"

Shinji considered, and then quickly wrote "Yes" in English. Nothing happened.

"At the time, I lived in Nebukawa. But now it's at the bottom of the sea…"

The girls waved at him again when Shinji looked around. 'I wonder who sent me that message, then…' he wondered.

Another message. "What's the name of the robot?"

Shinji was now deeply confused.

The mystery typer? Kensuke. "What's the ultimate attack? A knife? Do you know what it's called? A Prog Knife, huh? Weird… You're so awesome."

The end of class bell chimed out. "And consequently…" The teacher noticed. "Ah."

Everyone rose and bowed.

Toji looked over at Kensuke. 'That look on his face… he knows who it is…'


	20. After School

Toji, with all of the logic that could be expected, punched Shinji during lunch break. Shinji, who had been completely unsuspecting of the strike, was knocked onto the ground. Toji glared down at him, and Kensuke looked on slightly sympathetically. This hadn't been what he'd thought would happen.

Shinji groaned, but rose.

"Sorry, transferee, but I've gotta beat you up! I won't feel right until I've smacked you." Toji tried to say it as calmly as possible.

Shinji didn't look at either of them, paying more attention to the blood trickling from his nose. Only when he heard Toji walk away did he look up. Kensuke was still there though.

"Sorry. His little sister was injured in that last battle, so he's a bit angry."

"…I'm not piloting it by choice."

Toji stopped. Kensuke looked as though he'd suspected as much. Toji turned around, pushing Kensuke aside, and grabbed Shinji. Shinji didn't look him in the eyes.

So he was punched again, and Toji stormed away with Kensuke. Shinji didn't move, preferring to stare into the skies, at the clouds drifting along. Sometime later, someone approached him.

Rei. She didn't seem to be phased by Shinji's bleeding nose in the least.

"An Angel attack. Come." With that, she turned around and walked away.

Shinji sat up as the alarm sirens came on.

---

The alarms were quickly accompanied by a broadcast. "A special state of emergency has been declared for the entire Kanto-Chubu region. Please take refuge in your designated shelter immediately. Repeating…"

And over the sea, something red and worm-like floated over the seas.


	21. Preparations

And over the sea, something red and worm-like floated. It continued floating as it passed over the shore, missing a lighthouse by mere inches.

The Nerv crew was watching anxiously, not enjoying the way that the mask the Angel had seemed to be looking straight at them.

"This Angel's even uglier than the last one," Aoba commented, trying to relieve the tension.

"It's a lot sooner than we'd hoped, too."

"The last time they gave us a fifteen year break. This time it's been only three weeks," Hyuga muttered.

"I guess they don't care about what's convenient for us," Misato said jokingly. "They're the type we women hate the most."

"The committee demands that we dispatch the Evangelion again," Ibuki reported.

Misato shook her head. "Those interfering idiots. Of course we're going to sortie!" she said coldly.

---

Eva-01 was prepped quickly.

"Entry commencing," Shinji heard someone say. He barely noticed, barely moving in his new plugsuit. The LCL around him turned clear.

"Why am I piloting this thing again, even though my father's not here?" he asked himself. "Even though I got beat up?"

---

Toji was trying to relax despite the sound of the cannons overhead. All the students had been evacuated to a shelter, and most were worried. He felt it too, but ignored it, acting as impudent as possible by taking his shoes off.

Kensuke sat next to him, considering something for a few moments. Finally, he said to Toji, "Hey, I need to talk to you, alone."

"What for?" Toji asked, leaning in.

"Just trust me, okay?"

"Well, okay." Toji tried not to doubt his friends, so he stood up and approached Hikari. "Class Rep?"

She turned, smiling. "What?"

"We both hafta use the john," Toji said, as rudely as he thought he could get away with.

Hikari looked disappointed for a second, but covered it up. "Come on, you were supposed to go earlier!"

She did relent though, and as soon as they were in the restroom, Toji asked Kensuke what was on his mind.

"I have to see it, I have to!" Kensuke said.

"The battle up there?" Toji said, hoping he understood his friend correctly.

"Nobody knows when or if the enemy will come again!" Kensuke exclaimed, not bothering to answer the question, and just trying to sell Toji on the thought.

"Kensuke, are you serious?"

Kensuke tried to sound as commanding as possible. "If we let this opportunity escape us, we may lose it forever!" He returned to his original voice as Toji began to glare. "Please, help me get out the gate."

"But you'll get killed if you go out there."

"We might get killed if we stay here. If I could be killed anyway, I'd rather see it first."

"Idiot. Nerv is protecting us."

Kensuke changed tack. "And what is Nerv's most important weapon? It's the robot the new kid pilots. He protected us last time, but you hit him pretty hard. Twice!"

"Uh…"

"If he refuses to pilot the robot, we're all going to die."

Toji couldn't think of anything to say.

"Don't you have a duty to watch him fight?" Kensuke added, not afraid of sounding contrived.

Toji finished business and shook his head. "Ah, whatever." He wasn't fooled, but figured there wouldn't be any real harm. The shelter was quite a ways away from the city. "But you do realize we're risking death?" he asked, trying one last time to get out of it.

Kensuke nodded excitedly.


	22. Smokescreen

Shinji sat inside the Entry Plug, eyes shut.

"Child One, are you ready to head out?" Misato asked over the radio.

It took him a moment to respond, but Shinji finally managed a "Yes."

Ritsuko began giving him instructions. "Listen to me. Let Pilot Zero neutralize the enemy's A.T. Field, then fire a volley from the pallet gun. You'll be fine."

"Right," Shinji responded.

"Launch!" Misato ordered.

Eva-01 launched without a hitch. Eva-00, however, did not. Instead, it roared and jumped off the launch pad.

---

Kensuke and Toji climbed up through the hills that surrounded the shelter, looking for the best view of Tokyo-3 between the guards and the Shinto shrine. Finally, they found a good spot to watch, and settled in, Kensuke filming.

The Angel was heading down the streets, but stopped after a moment, moving from its horizontal flight mode to a slightly bent position, looking up towards any potential attackers. Two whips appeared, each fashioned out of plasma or something similar.

"Awesome! This was worth it! Oh, this is what I've been waiting for!"

Slowly, a building began to shake and move and an immense shutter on one of its sides opened, revealing Evangelion Unit 01, holding a pallet gun.

"It's here."

---

"Shinji-kun, there's been a slight problem… Eva-00 won't be joining you for this battle," Misato said nervously. "But you'll be just fine. Just go through what we've talked about."

Shinji's eyes were wide with fright. "Misato-san… I don't think-"

"Now. We don't have any other choice. Just do it."

"Is she going to be okay?" Shinji asked, assuming the worst.

"Shinji-kun! We don't have time for this!"

"Target in the center, pull the switch. Target in the center, pull the switch…" Shinji whispered to himself, as Ibuki noted that he'd deployed the AT Field correctly.

"Do it just as planned, all right, Shinji-kun?"

"Right."

Eva-01 dashed out of its hiding place and began to fire. So much smoke was produced that the Angel was soon completely obscured. "Come on, please…" Shinji whispered.

"Idiot! The enemy's covered in smoke from the explosions!"

Shinji let up on the trigger.

The smoke began to dissipate, revealing the Angel was still alive behind it. The mask on the creature went dark, and the whips sprang outward, attacking the Eva. Shinji wheeled it out of the way, but the pallet gun was cut into pieces. A building behind him began to collapse.

---

"What the hell?! He's already losing!" Toji exclaimed.

"It's all right," Kensuke said soothingly.

---

"I'm sending you a spare rifle," Misato reported. A building opened up with a rifle inside. "Take it." Shinji didn't move, despite the alarms. "Shinji-kun? … Shinji-kun?"

---

"Oh, man!" Kensuke cried, watching the fallen Eva-01. "Being beaten up must have really messed him up."

"Sh…shut up!" Toji said, trying to ignore his guilt.


	23. Water!

Shinji was trying very hard not to scream as the Angel continued to approach. Finally, only by summoning all of his willpower, he was able to pull away and flee down the streets, just as the Angel's whips struck where he'd stood. Even with that, he was still sent flying.

Worse, the umbilical cord was cut. An alarm sounded. Frantic chatter went on in the background, useless technobabble informing him about how doomed he was. He pushed all of that to the back of his thoughts and tried to pull the Eva up.

Another whip filed around its ankle, and knocked it back down. Shinji and the Evangelion were dragged along the ground, and then the Angel, showing tremendous strength, flung both well away from the city.

Toji and Kensuke, who were but a few meters from where the Evangelion were about land, began to scream. "It's coming this way!" Kensuke yelled.

Shinji didn't hear. He did overhear Misato though. "Shinji-kun. Can you get up? Shinji-kun!" She must have turned to someone else, for the next thing she said was "Damage report?"

"No problems detected. He can make it," Hyuga answered.

Shinji turned to the monitor, and for the first time noticed both boys, nearly crushed by the hand of the Evangelion. They trembled in fright. They looked close to bursting into tears. Shinji just looked down at them in horror.

"Shinji-kun's classmates?"

"What are they doing there?"

Shinji didn't hear anything else, for a shadow appeared over everyone. The Angel had arrived, its whips outstretched. Eva-01 pushed itself into the path, catching both. Its armor melted away, but still he hung on.

"Why doesn't he fight?"

"He can't move freely because of us!"

"Eva-01 activation time remaining: 3 minutes, 28 seconds."

He barely heard any of that. He barely heard Misato's orders. "Shinji-kun, let the two of them into the cockpit! Once you've got them, make a temporary retreat. We'll regroup!"

Ritsuko protested. "What makes you think you can let civilians into the entry plug without authorization?!"

"I'm authorizing it."

"You're exceeding your authority, Captain Katsuragi!"

Shinji tried not to cry out, hoping that the issue would be resolved and he would be given the proper order.

"Eva-01's remaining activation time: three minutes."

"Hold Eva on the current commands and eject the entry plug. Hurry."

The Entry Plug went dark, and was pushed out of the Eva. "You two, get in! Quickly!" Misato ordered over the intercom.

The two boys crawled in. "What the… It's water?" Toji whispered.

"My camera! My camera's…!?" Kensuke moaned. Both were coughing from the shock of encountering the LCL.

The Entry Plug was reinserted, but took longer than usual to start up. "An abnormality has occurred in the nerve system," Ibuki reported.

"It's due to the incorporation of two foreign bodies," Ritsuko explained hurriedly. "Noise is getting mixed into the nerve pulses."

By now, the armor was completely gone, and the Evangelion's hands were visible. Shinji was almost in tears. Finally though, he pulled the Angel, and tossed it away.


	24. Explosion

"Now! Retreat!" Misato ordered. Shinji pulled Eva-01 up to its feet. "Recovery route 34, retreat to the east side of the mountain."

Eva-01 didn't move. Shinji just sat there, his eyes shut.

"New kid… She said, 'Retreat'," Toji muttered. Still nothing. "New kid!"

"I can do this… I can do this!" Shinji lifted his head. If Toji or Kensuke had been able to see it, they would have seen that he was still as sad as ever. "…I hope."

One of Eva-01's shoulder pylons opened, revealing a knife within. Eva-01 grabbed it, despite its unprotected hands.

"Progressive Knife engaged!"

"Shinji-kun, obey my command. Retreat! Shinji-kun!" Misato looked at the timer, horrified to see that less than a minute remained.

Shinji screamed, not entirely in fear, but with berserk rage as well, charging down the slope.

"That idiot," Misato whispered.

The Angel sprang up the hill, but Shinji paid it no mind, even as its whips thrust into Eva-01's abdomen. Eva-01 could no longer charge forward, but it pushed anyways, slowly angling the knife into position and thrusting it in. Shinji continued to scream, crying as well, but he took all the pain and focused it back, pushing the knife in deeper.

Ibuki announced that there were thirty seconds left, and the assault continued. Sparks flew, and everyone but Shinji was quiet after that, listening and watching in horror as the boy seemed to have lost it completely.

At two seconds left, the core went gray. The Angel exploded into blood.

Shinji's head dropped. Everything went dark inside the Plug as power finally ran out.

---

"Eva Unit 01 has reached the operational limit," Ibuki noted.

"The target is completely silent," Hyuga said, though, like after the last battle, there was no sense of triumph in his voice.

Misato said nothing, glaring.

---

No one in the Plug spoke. Toji and Kensuke looked away from Shinji, because he was crying and they didn't know what to say.


	25. The Phone Call

Rain poured in buckets. The school yard had been abandoned ages ago, no stragglers remaining outside. Rei watched all of this coolly.

Kensuke, however, paid no attention to the rain, typing away instead, slowly generating a 3D model of the Entry Plug.

"It's been three days," Toji said.

"Since we got those tickets?" Kensuke asked, not looking up from his computer.

"No, since he stopped comin' to school."

"'He'?" Kensuke asked, playing dumb.

"The new kid, the new kid," Toji responded, standing up. Kensuke didn't respond. "I wonder what he's been doin' since then?"

Kensuke finally stopped typing. "Are you worried?"

"Not exactly worried…"

"Toji, for someone who's so tactless, you're pretty stubborn. If you had apologized to him back then, you wouldn't have had to agonize over it for three days. Here, this is the new kid's phone number." Kensuke held out a piece of paper. "If you're so worried, why don't you call him?"

Toji nodded and went to the phone in the corridor. He'd almost finished dialing the number when he just stopped. Sighing to himself, he hung up the phone and went back to his desk. "Dammit," he whispered.

Hikari approached him. "Suzuhara?"

"Wha- what is it, Class Rep?"

"I was just wondering… Is something wrong?"

"Sorta… yeah… I just messed up really badly with someone…" Toji said, not noticing that Rei was now staring at him.

"…Well, uh… is it too late to apologize?"

"I guess I could go to his house…" Toji responded, shrugging non-committally.

"Er… I could come along… Keep you company?"

"Sorry Class Rep, but this is something I should probably do by myself." Toji turned to Kensuke. "So, Kensuke, will you help me out with that before school tomorrow?"

Kensuke tried not to laugh at the dissonance in what Toji said. "Er… yeah, sure."

Hikari shook her head. "Good luck, Suzuhara."

"Thanks Class Rep…" Toji said. He looked about ready to add something else, but Hikari was already walking away. "Er… goodbye then."

"Practically for good…" Kensuke muttered.

"Don't remind me…" Toji glared at Kensuke.


	26. A real babe

Misato looked at the door to Shinji's room. 'Is he going to cut class again today?' she thought. She knocked twice. "Shinji-kun! Get up! You can't keep skipping school! Eva-01 is already completely repaired. Shouldn't you get your act together, too?"

No response.

Misato sighed and pushed the door open. "Shinji-kun!?"

No response. Just the sound of rain. And a security card and an envelope addressed to Misato on Shinji's desk. Everything else had been put away nicely.

"He's run away. I'm not surprised…"

Misato stopped pondering this new development when the doorbell rang. She dashed to the door and swung it open. "Shinji-kun?" she began, before seeing Kensuke and Toji in front of her.

"Uh! Um… uh… well…" Toji stuttered, trying not to stare too blatantly at Misato, who was quite beautiful.

"We're Ikari-kun's classmates, Aida and Suzuhara," Kensuke explained.

"Aida-kun and Suzuhara-kun…" Misato pondered, well aware that they sounded familiar.

"Yes," "Yes, I'm Suzuhara," Kensuke and Toji said concurrently.

"Aren't you the ones who got into Eva-01's entry plug?"

Again, they answered at the same time. "Yeah." "Yes!"

Toji bowed quite properly before Misato. "We're very sorry for causing you so much trouble."

"By the way-"

"Ikari-kun has been absent ever since then, so we came to see if he was okay."

Misato thought quickly. "Shinji-kun is at the Nerv training facility right now."

"Oh, I see," Toji said.

Kensuke pulled papers out of his bag, holding them out for Misato to take. She did so as he said, "Here are the prints that were collecting on Ikari-kun's desk."

"You didn't have to do that. Thank you."

Toji bowed very deeply, Kensuke, only barely. "Well, we'll just be going, then," Toji said, nicely but nervously. Kensuke noticed that his slouch would be perfect for hiding something at about groin height.

"Please give our regards to Ikari-kun."

Misato's smile had become increasingly overdone, and she knew she couldn't keep up appearances much longer, so she smiled and waved at the two boys. "Yeah, I will. Bye." And with that, the door was shut.

"That was unexpected," Kensuke said, straightening up.

"She was a real babe…" Toji muttered.

Inside the apartment, Misato was abusing the walls, kicking them as hard as she could. "Shinji, you idiot!!" She hung her head. "Idiot," she muttered.


	27. Running away

A train followed its tracks in the rain. Shinji Ikari sat in one of its cars, his bags above him, his SDAT blaring into his ears. At a certain song, he hit reverse, flipping back to #25. When song #26 finished, he flipped back again.

He sat there for hours, as passengers got on and off the train. He didn't look up and speak to any of them, nor did he get off at any station, despite the fact that the train followed a loop, always bringing him back to the station he'd boarded at.

Finally though, night settled, and the train stopped going.

"I have to go back," Shinji whispered to himself.

But he didn't. As he walked along the rain-splattered streets he realized that he had no idea where he was, or exactly which streets to take to get to Misato's apartment. To get off the street, he ducked into an all-night theatre, which was showing some dumb movie.

Which turned out to be dumber than he thought. Some 'scientists' who weren't bright enough to pass the 6th grade were whining about the asteroid about to kill them (and with them, two billion people).

"You really couldn't detect it?"

"Correct."

"An object tens of millimeters in diameter crashed into Antarctica at more than ten percent of the speed of light!"

Shinji wasn't really paying attention any more, and was watching the other people in the theatre instead. There was an old hobo crouched into a seat nearby, snoring slightly. Another nearby man was reading a book instead of listening.

"Our technology could neither predict it nor defend against it."

Another two people were flirting, also ignoring the movie.

"But it's hell out there! Just what is the purpose of science!"

"The atmospheric flux caused by the change in the Earth's axis has decreased by 3%."

Shinji just watched them.

"So, has it calmed down a little?"

"Negative! There's a tidal wave approaching at 230 meters a second!"

Shinji started to look away, but they began to kiss.

"Doctor! We must evacuate!"

"No, it is my duty to remain here."

Shinji's eyes widened as the man slipped his hand inside his date's shirt.

"Doctor, dying is easy. But you have an obligation to watch this Hell on Earth."

Shinji glared at the screen for a moment, then left, choosing to sleep on a bench by a vending machine instead.

The next morning, Shinji went back to the streets, but found himself even more lost than before. The sunrise produced shadows that made everything confusing. Finally, he got on a bus.

And found himself in the countryside sometime later. He walked, passing the lake, the fields, forests, he didn't even know where he was any more.

Finally, he found himself at a well-known cliff. Ignoring the sign that urged people to go back and think on life before doing something drastic, he settled himself on the edge.


	28. Violence

A dozen machines were analyzing Rei, in every way Ritsuko could think of.

"Any contact from Shinji-kun?" Ritsuko asked.

Misato didn't answer.

"Nothing?"

Still no response. Rei lay on the bed, calm. Misato didn't move for awhile, but eventually she said, "Nothing. I think he may never come back."

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing really. If he doesn't come back, maybe that's for the best…" Misato said, thinking back to their confrontation after the battle.

"Why did you ignore my orders?" she'd screamed at him.

"I'm sorry," he'd said coolly.

She'd said coldly, "I'm the one who's in charge of your operations, right?", "You have a duty to obey my orders. Understood?", and "Don't do it again."

"Yes," he'd said all three times.

"Do you really understand what I'm saying?" she'd said, knowing all too well that he'd just say "Yes."

He did.

Misato "Hey, you're not going to get out of this by just saying 'yes' to everything I say."

"I understand, of course. That's enough, isn't it? We won, didn't we?"

She'd snapped. "You know, it may be easy to go along with whatever anyone else wants, but if you get into Eva with that kind of attitude, you'll get killed!"

Shinji just looked away. "That's okay with me."

She'd slapped him. She wasn't proud of it. She'd walked away as soon as she had. But she'd done it. "You've got the worst attitude I've ever seen. If you expect praise for breaking orders like that, you're wrong, Shinji Ikari."

He'd barely reacted, he'd been just… calm. "That's not the point. Anyway, I'm the only one who can pilot Eva-01, aren't I? I'll pilot it."

"I see," Ritsuko said once Misato recounted the story.

Misato sighed. "If getting into Eva is going to hurt him, he shouldn't get into it. He'll get killed."

"We'll have another pilot by then."

Far away from either woman, a boy was playing in the fields outside of Tokyo-3. He looked silhouetted from Shinji's perspective, but Shinji could hear what he was saying. He was re-enacting some battle scene all by himself. At the end, the "brave captain" died, and then the private who was trying to save him did too. Shinji suppressed a laugh.

Then the boy noticed him. "…the new kid? Ikari?"

Shinji approached.


	29. I'm like you

The two boys ate besides Kensuke's tent, huddled close to the fire that was protecting them from the cold night. No one else was around for miles.

"Toji was sorry, you know." Kensuke stirred the pot above the flames for a minute, idly. "His kid sister scolded him, apparently. 'That robot saved us all!' she said." He looked at Shinji, huddled in a jacket that he'd borrowed. "Pretty embarrassing, being scolded by a little girl who isn't even out of second grade, isn't it?"

Shinji didn't say anything in response.

Kensuke was confused by this for a moment, but then he decided to just keep talking to fill the silence. "I like it at night because those noisy cicadas don't chirp. Although it was nice and quiet when I was a kid, there've been more of them each year."

"'The ecosystem is restoring to its normal state.' That's what Misato-san said."

"Hmm… Misato-san, eh?" Kensuke seemed glad to know that he was right. "I really envy you. Living with a beautiful woman like her and getting to pilot Evangelion." Kensuke swung his arms around a little, mimicking the way Shinji had used the controls. "Oh, I wish I could get behind the controls!"

Shinji sighed. "You'd better not. Your mother would be worried."

Kensuke just smiled. "…Ah, that's okay. I don't have one." 

"Uh…" Shinji was shocked.

"I'm the same as you, Ikari."

Shinji couldn't think of anything to say to that. How did Kensuke know that his mother was dead?

"You'll have something to eat, right?" Kensuke said, changing the subject like it was nothing.

"Yeah."

Morning came, and with it, several Nerv agents. Shinji heard them coming from awhile away, but didn't do anything. When Kensuke realized they were approaching, he jumped out of the tent, ready to shoo them off, but… The man he faced was clearly much stronger than him. "Ugh."

Shinji came out.

"Ikari Shinji, correct?" the muscular man asked.

"Yes."

"We are from Nerv's Department of Security Intelligence. In accordance with Clause 8 of the Security Regulations, we are taking you to Nerv Headquarters. All right?"

"Yes," Shinji said again, not even bothering to put up a fight.

"So you just stood there and watched…?" Toji demanded when Kensuke related all of this to him.

Kensuke looked down, trying not to see Toji's scowl. "Easy for you to say. They were Nerv Security Intelligence."

"So what! Don't you have any balls!"

"Only an idiot fights when he knows he can't win. Balls have nothing to do with it."


	30. Consequences

Back in the Geofront, Shinji had been locked into a dark room. For his own protection, of course. The first light he saw in several hours was when Misato opened the door and entered.

"Long time no see," she said.

"…Yes."

"Did two days of bumming around cheer you up?" she asked coldly.

"…not really…" he admitted.

"Eva's on standby. Will you pilot it? Or won't you?"

"You're not going to scold me for running away?" Shinji asked, disbelieving. Then he sneered, more to himself than to her. "Of course not. You've got no relation to me."

Misato was shocked.

"If I said I wasn't going to pilot, what would happen to Eva-01?"

"Rei would probably pilot it," Misato explained, trying to remain calm, still remembering their last meeting. Shinji's head lifted a little, but he didn't say anything. "So you won't do it?"

"It's not fair to force everything on her," he muttered. "It's alright, I'll do it."

Now Misato was irritated, despite herself. "But you don't want to?"

"Of course not. First of all, I'm not cut out for it. But Ayanami, Misato-san and Ritsuko-san…"

"Cut that out!" Finally he looked her right in the eyes. "This has nothing to do with any of us! If you don't like it, get out of here! Forget all about Eva and us and go back to your old life!" She paused. "We don't need someone with that attitude piloting."

She turned around and stomped away, slamming the door shut behind her. Shinji sat in the darkness, stunned.

After Misato told Ritsuko, Ritsuko took it upon herself to talk to the Commander. The two of them and Rei rode on a moving walkway together while she explained.

"The First Child is leaving Tokyo-3 tomorrow."

"Then, we'll reconfigure Eva-01's data for Rei," Commander Ikari said coldly. He didn't care that his son was leaving.

Rei hadn't fully recovered though, and that concerned even Ritsuko. "…But…"

"Regardless of the results of Eva-00's re-activation experiment, we'll move on to experimenting with Eva-01."

Ritsuko looked at Rei in concern again, but this time Rei felt more as if the concern was about her abilities, not her wellbeing. Neither woman said anything.

"According to the Marduk Institute's report, one of the new Children should be able to use Eva-00."

"They haven't even been trained yet," Ritsuko said, knowing far too well that both would be able to so, but still concerned about their abilities compared to Shinji's.

The first thing they did when they released Shinji was to destroy his Nerv cards. When that was finished, he spoke.

"Um, where is Misato-san? I'd like to say goodbye."

The man led Shinji to a car coldly. "You are no longer Nerv personnel. Therefore, we can't tell you anything."

Another car, and a different set of passengers, was also going to the train station.

"Are you ready, then?" the driver asked his passengers.

The two boys in the backseat, Toji and Kensuke, exchanged glances. "Yes, sir," Kensuke said finally.

"What about my little sister?" Toji thought.

The driver sensed something was wrong. "Suzuhara?"

"I don't see why we gotta do this," the boy said after awhile.

"Security violations, of course." 

"What?" Kensuke cried, outraged. "Those weren't our fault!"

"You were outside the shelters without authorization. As far as I see it, that means you are at fault."

The driver had a point, and neither boy said anything, even to each other, the rest of the trip.


	31. A brief friendship

Shinji got out of the car, brooding. They hadn't let him say goodbye to anyone, they hadn't let him make sure all his stuff was packed… They hadn't let him do anything.

"Ikari!" Shinji heard someone familiar shout.

He turned in time to see Toji yell, "You forgot this!" and throw him a bag. He must have left it at the tent. The three boys stared at each other for a moment.

"Um… can I have a minute?" Shinji asked the Section 2 agent who had been escorting him.

"They're taking the same train as you, kid."

Shinji sighed and walked forward. "Thank you," he said.

Kensuke looked at Toji expectantly, and when he didn't say anything, pushed him forward. "Come on, say something!"

The boy stumbled forward. "Ikari, I'm sorry for hitting you twice. Please, hit me back!"

Shinji winced at the thought. "I can't do that." 

Toji was determined, though. "Please! Otherwise, I won't be satisfied."

"If it'll put an end to this dispute, why don't you go ahead and hit him?" Kensuke suggested, ignoring the two Section 2 agents who were looking visibly bored.

"But…"

"Hurry up! You don't have the time."

Shinji decided not to point out that they were taking the same train. "Okay, but only once…" If it would make Toji stop bothering, it would be fine.

Toji nodded. "Right! Bring it on!"

Shinji put his bag down, clenched his fist, and brought it forward.

"Hold it!" Toji cried. Shinji's fist stopped. "Don't hold back."

"Right."

So he didn't.

Kensuke winced in sympathy. The Section 2 agents smirked. Shinji just looked worried.

"How did you know I'd be here?" he asked.

"They told us. We're leaving town too."

Shinji sighed. He thought he knew exactly why, and their next words confirmed it.

"We got in a lot of trouble for going into the Entry Plug," Toji said. "Not your fault, of course. But... they're sending us to a Nerv base now." He held out his hand. "Maybe we'll meet again someday."

Shinji didn't say anything. Both other boys sighed.

"Hey, don't look so gloomy."

"We understand."

"It looked pretty bad," Toji added.

Shinji wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words.

The Section 2 agent approached, putting his hand on Shinji's shoulder. "It's time."

Shinji hung his head. Grabbing his bag, he headed for the platform. The two other boys followed, all three heading up the narrow stairs while the Section 2 agents left.

"What'll happen to the others?"

"I guess they'll have to move."

Shinji lowered his head. "I'm so pathetic..." he thought.

One last sight from Kensuke. "I guess it's good we're getting out of this town now."


	32. Trains

Shinji got out of the car, brooding. They hadn't let him say goodbye to anyone, they hadn't let him make sure all his stuff was packed… They hadn't let him do anything.

"Ikari!" Shinji heard someone familiar shout.

He turned in time to see Toji yell, "You forgot this!" and throw him a bag. He must have left it at the tent. The three boys stared at each other for a moment.

"Um… can I have a minute?" Shinji asked the Section 2 agent who had been escorting him.

"They're taking the same train as you, kid."

Shinji sighed and walked forward. "Thank you," he said.

Kensuke looked at Toji expectantly, and when he didn't say anything, pushed him forward. "Come on, say something!"

The boy stumbled forward. "Ikari, I'm sorry for hitting you twice. Please, hit me back!"

Shinji winced at the thought. "I can't do that." 

Toji was determined, though. "Please! Otherwise, I won't be satisfied."

"If it'll put an end to this dispute, why don't you go ahead and hit him?" Kensuke suggested, ignoring the two Section 2 agents who were looking visibly bored.

"But…"

"Hurry up! You don't have the time."

Shinji decided not to point out that they were taking the same train. "Okay, but only once…" If it would make Toji stop bothering, it would be fine.

Toji nodded. "Right! Bring it on!"

Shinji put his bag down, clenched his fist, and brought it forward.

"Hold it!" Toji cried. Shinji's fist stopped. "Don't hold back."

"Right."

So he didn't.

Kensuke winced in sympathy. The Section 2 agents smirked. Shinji just looked worried.

"How did you know I'd be here?" he asked.

"They told us. We're leaving town too."

Shinji sighed. He thought he knew exactly why, and their next words confirmed it.

"We got in a lot of trouble for going into the Entry Plug," Toji said. "Not your fault, of course. But... they're sending us to a Nerv base now." He held out his hand. "Maybe we'll meet again someday."

Shinji didn't say anything. Both other boys sighed.

"Hey, don't look so gloomy."

"We understand."

"It looked pretty bad," Toji added.

Shinji wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words.

The Section 2 agent approached, putting his hand on Shinji's shoulder. "It's time."

Shinji hung his head. Grabbing his bag, he headed for the platform. The two other boys followed, all three heading up the narrow stairs while the Section 2 agents left.

"What'll happen to the others?"

"I guess they'll have to move."

Shinji lowered his head. "I'm so pathetic..." he thought.

One last sight from Kensuke. "I guess it's good we're getting out of this town now."

Ritsuko and Misato walked past Eva-01.

"He's gone, is he?"

Misato stopped by the Eva, not happy at the question.

Ritsuko stared at the Eva. "Was it for the best?"

"The Hedgehog's Dilemma…" Misato whispered. "The closer we become, the more deeply we hurt each other." Ritsuko stared at her. "Now I understand. That boy…" Misato's face became solemn. "He can't let others know how he feels in any other way."

The three boys, meanwhile, stood on the station platform, listening to the announcements and waiting for the train. They were the only people there. Finally, the train arrived. The doors opened, and Toji and Kensuke stepped inside.

But Shinji had hesitated.

"You comin', new kid?"

Shinji didn't. The train doors shut, and it left. He watched as Misato's car pulled into the parking lot across the way.

Misato got out of the car, but couldn't see Shinji from her angle. She realized she'd missed him...

And then the train pulled away, and Shinji was there. She smiled, relieved, as they stared at each other.

"H… Hello," he said.

"…I'm sorry about before, you know," she said, smiling.


End file.
